The invention relates to a sealing plug for closing an opening in a component, in particular a body component of a motor vehicle. The invention also relates to an assembly with such sealing plug and to a method for sealing an opening.
When manufacturing vehicle bodies, it is required to seal openings in various body components, in order to prevent the ingress of dirt or water. These openings only are closed, for example, when during the painting operation the respective body component is transferred into a heating furnace for melting and curing the applied paint.
For this purpose sealing plugs are used, which are inserted into the openings of the body component and which are fixed for example by means of suitable latching elements which engage into the opening of the component. The sealing plug at the same time can effect sealing of the opening, wherein it is known for example to permanently glue at least a portion of the sealing plug to the edge of the opening. For example, a portion of the sealing plug is fabricated of a material melting or expanding under the influence of temperature, so that when the component is heated, e.g. during painting, the sealing plug is cohesively connected with the edge of the opening. Thus, the opening is seated watertight and at the same time the sealing plug is attached to the body part.
Such sealing plug is described for example in DE 602 04 131 T2, wherein there are provided two concentric rings of melting material, which are connected with each other by several ribs, the radially outer ring resting beside the edge of the opening and the radially inner ring resting against the inner edge of the opening.
In all known concepts it is disadvantageous that the sealing ping must be adapted to the diameter of the opening rather exactly and thus a multitude of sealing plugs must be prefabricated and held in stock for different opening diameters.